Freefalling
by Arialene
Summary: Jack, a professional skier, finds himself given a couple of days off from his training due to a training exercise and manages to meet Elsa, a college student at a local bookstore. He convinces her to go out with him, not being entirely truthful about his identity in the process, which quickly leads him into hot water. Can he manage to turn things around, or is he out of his element
1. Chapter 1

**_So firstly, I would like to give a HUGE thank you to Strongyu for making the cover image for me. I presented the concept to her several weeks ago, and she just knocked it out of the park! Thank you so much dear._**

**_Secondly. this is an idea that came to me after watching the Olympics, and Jack's character is based heavily off of athlete Nick Goepper. PLEASE look him up on YouTube, the videos of him doing the various tricks and ski runs down the tracks will really give you an awed sense of what I'm trying to give for Jack. And, he's really freaking cool to watch._**

**_Thirdly, I am doing my best to have this set in Norway and doing my best from research gleaned off the internet. If I do something that is incorrect, PLEASE correct me. I like trying to be as accurate as possible, and sometimes that is difficult when I've never been to Norway :)._**

**_Enjoy! I don't plan on this being a very long story, but it will be a sweet story. Love! Aria._**

* * *

Jack strolled through the streets of Bergen Norway, marvelling at the old structures of the city intermingled with the new as people bustled along, various languages being spoken as he made his way through the infamous streets that were crowded with tourists. He smiled often, enjoying the sites of the city around him as he snapped pictures with the small camera hanging around his wrist, stopping often to look at the collection of street artists and watching musicians performing on the curbsides.

It was late February in the large Norwegian city, and the city was happy and alive while still being wrapped up in cold and snow from the winter; it's position in the northern part of the globe certainly being made known as chilly wind cut through layers of warm winter clothing and coats. Jack wasn't bothered though, he was more than used to a little cold.

He was in Bergen for the day, maybe two if he decided to stay the night. He had a few more days off from training at least, and he was going to make the most of them.

Jackson Overland. Jack Overland. Known in the professional skiing community as Jack Frost, a nickname a bouncy X-Games reporter had given him after she'd forgotten his last name, and it had stuck. He didn't mind, he thought it was catchy and the press liked it going along with his bleached white hair and striking blue eyes.

He had skill to back up his loud mouth he'd had in the first year he'd entered professional level competition. He'd won minor competitions, major competitions, X-Game competitions and was gearing up Olympic tryouts at the end of the year, for the world wide competition in just under a year's time.

And he strolled around the city now a complete unknown at the present moment, another American tourist in a foreign city. He smiled, lifting his camera to take another picture of an old stone church, St. Mary's according to the small map that he had bought.

He and his training companions, Mari, Edmund, and their trainer, Nick, were in Norway for a couple months to train at the Hemsedal ski center. It was one of the best in Norway, and gave them a good opportunity to train at a facility they weren't used to. Nick liked to try and change things up for them from time to time, making sure they didn't get overly comfortable in their environment.

The downside to that, however, was when Jack made mistakes on new big air tricks, they tended to hurt a little more. Which is what had led to his short vacation from training, and subsequent trip to the city of Bergen. He hadn't gotten enough speed from a take-off in trying a new trick, had under-rotated his attempt in the air and landed badly, twisting his knee in the process.

He hadn't torn anything, thankfully, after he'd gone into Oslo for tests and an examination. He'd been ordered to stay off the slopes for the week though, the doctor telling him to ice and rest the knee. Jack had had little complaint there, it had hurt like hell and changed a rather impressive purple color with the bruising that he still sported under his long pants.

He glanced around now, thinking about his twisted knee was making it hurt, and making him want to find a place he could sit down for a spell. He set off down the road, wondering what he might find that could fit the need.

* * *

Elsa Sandvik hurried along the street from the university, her backpack slung over one shoulder as she made her way to her favorite bookstore, "Istappe Bøker," where she would be able to settle into a nice comfortable chair and study for her exams coming up later this week. She was studying mathematics at the University of Bergen, and was in her second year now.

She turned a corner on the street, a smile forming on her face as the familiar pale green storefront came into few, with it's cheery handpainted sign beckoning customers inside. She looked either way on the street before skipping across the road, nodding at an older couple that passed before her before pausing at the shop door and pushing the old door open. A tinkering bell and squeaking hinge bespoke of her entrance before she was able to.

"Mr. Tjenersen?" she called, stepping over to the pair of worn, leather armchairs that set close to the window and setting her bag down heavily on one.

"Upstairs!" called a male voice, muffled from being amongst all of the stacks of books.

Elsa smiled, turning and heading to the small back room where a small kitchenette sat amongst the stacks of unreleased books and unpacked shipments. She turned the water on, grabbing the small electric kettle from it's spot on the counter and filling it part way with water. She set it back on the counter, plugging it into the socket and began to prepare a teacup for herself.

She came here to the bookstore after her classes to study, she preferred the quiet and intimate setting to the busy and crowded school library any day. And Kai (Mr. Tjenersen) let her use the backroom to make herself a snack or a cup of tea to have while she studied. While he didn't have nearly the amount of reference material that the huge library did, he usually had enough to get her papers going, or to look up an equation formula if she needed it. She never regretted spending her time in the small two story shop with the kindly old man.

The door to the back room swung open, and Kai appeared with a small stack of books in his hands. She smiled at him, moving out of the way as he shuffled past to set them down.

"Nice to see you, as always," he told her, speaking in Norsk as he always did. "How was your day?"

She stepped back as he moved to a far shelf, pulling a few books down.

"It was fine," she responded, setting a teabag into a clean cup as she waited for her water to boil. "Professor Røyskattsen is as lovely as ever."

He chuckled, turning to smile at her. "I think I detect some sarcasm there?"

The electric kettle began to hiss, signalling that the water was now hot and she unplugged it while she exhaled a long sigh.

"He's a rather sadistic little man, I swear. He loves to watch us all squirm when he announces that he's testing us the DAY before the winter holidays start."

The bell on the door tinkled again, alerting them both to a customer in the store and Kai moved to shuffle past her again as she poured the hot water into her cup. He patted her shoulder as he did so, and she could sense the smile on his lips as he pushed the door open.

"You'll do fine, I'm sure of it," he said. "You always do."

"Thanks, Mr. Tjenersen," she said, turning and smiling at him as she flicked a small packet of sugar in her hands.

He disappeared through the door, going out to greet his customer while she stayed to finish preparing her tea. She opened a cabinet door, pulling out a packet of biscuits and slid a few out of the wax wrapper before tucking them into a napkin, picking up her steaming teacup and heading out the door herself.

Kai stood with a young man with bleached white hair and dressed warmly for the weather outside; he wore a black brace around his left knee over his dark jeans. Kai's brow was furrowed in concentration as the man talked quickly in English, telling Kai some books and magazines that he was looking for as Elsa sidled past with her tea and snack to get to her chair and begin her studying.

The conversation behind her continued, fading away after a few moments as Kai led the man away into a part of the store. Kai knew English, it was just difficult for him, especially when spoken quickly. And he always got by with the myriad of tourists that made their way into the shop from time to time. She settled into her chair, balancing her teacup on the armchair while she worked textbooks and notebooks from her bag.

She was almost settled in, flipping open her mathematics book to the section they were currently working on to begin her review when Kai hurried over to her, a frazzled expression on his face. She blinked up at him in surprise, she'd hardly ever seen him get flustered before with a customer.

"Elsa, I'm sorry," he began in Norsk, an apologetic look on his face as he gestured over to the section that the man was browsing in. He was crouched down, arms stretched forward as he flipped through a selection of magazines. "Could-would you mind helping? He talks so fast, and uses strange words."

Elsa frowned, glancing between Kai and the man.

"Um, yeah," she said, setting her books aside. "No problem."

She got back up out of her chair, momentarily pausing to grab her teacup. If she was going to help this man, she might as well enjoy her drink at the same time. She wandered over to him, smiling when he looked up.

"What are you looking for?" she asked, taking a sip from her cup.

He glanced up at her, quickly flashing her with a wide, white smile and stood up.

"Hi," he said, sliding his hands into his pockets. "I-um, I was just trying to look for some snowboarding magazines?"

He named off a few titles, giving her a hopeful look as he did so. She turned, sliding her cup onto the end of the check out counter and crouched down by the sports magazines in the section.

"I'm not sure how much luck you'll have," she told him, a warning note in her voice. "Most of the magazines Mr. Tjenersen carries are in Norwegian except for the very popular titles in English."

He shrugged. "Pictures come in all languages," he said, flashing her another smile.

She couldn't argue with him there as she glanced through titles, pulling a few out for him to look at before she stood up, walking back over to grab her cup again.

"Is that all?"

He fumbled all of the magazines together and got to his feet, wincing as he did and bending down to rub his braced knee. "Uhh, was hoping to get a couple books too. Maybe a good mystery or action book? Know any good ones?"

She nodded, gesturing for him to follow her again.

He chatted at her, asking her about the city and what she did and if she worked in the bookstore. He seemed confused when she said she didn't.

"I just like coming here to study," she said, pulling a couple of Tom Clancy books from a shelf for him. "It's peaceful, and Mr. Tjenersen lets me stay as long as I want."

She shrugged. "I know the store just from being here so long, I've been coming here to study ever since I was in secondary school."

She pulled another book from a shelf, holding it out for him.

"I think he likes it because a pretty girl sitting in the shop window is probably good for business," she said, smiling at him.

He grinned at her. "Certainly can't hurt," he agreed, glancing over the backs of the books. "Well you've certainly loaded me down with more than I probably could ever read."

She chuckled turning to lead him back downstairs. "You don't have to get them all, though that's about all he has in English I will say. You might need to try a bigger chain store if you need a bigger selection while you are here."

"No, no, this is good," he said, smiling at her again. "Thanks."

She smiled back at him, gesturing to the front counter that Kai stood at while she turned and headed back to the back room with her now empty cup, quickly cleaning it and placing it on the small drying rack. Then, she headed back to her chair in an attempt to restart her study attempt, smiling again at the man as he paid for his purchases at the counter.

She settled into her chair, arranging her textbook and notebook on her lap again, a pencil poised in her hand as she reviewed her lecture notes from the day before.

She glanced up with a frown when he sat down heavily in the chair opposite her, watching as he fished his stack of magazines out of the shop bag and began to leaf through the top one. He looked up at her and grinned at her.

"I'm Jack by the way," he said. "Jack Overland."

"Elsa," she said, looking back down at her lap. "And I'm trying to study."

"Sorry," he muttered, thumbing open the glossy pages of the magazine.

She silently worked on a formula, going over the figures and processes in her head as she followed her notes with her pencil, her lips moving silently as she studied.

"So, what are you studying?" he asked her after a few minutes of silence.

She glanced up, her brow raised in annoyance now. "Mathematics, it's my major. I have an exam later this week," she said, hoping the latter part would silence him.

"Oh," he said, nodding. "You live and go to school around here then?"

She sighed, sitting up from her hunched position now and looking at him. "Yes. I live in Bergen, and I got to school at the University here. I'm guessing you are here as a tourist?"

He grinned at her. "Nope. I'm doing a, um, doing a work-study type thing. Got a couple days off though, thought I'd come see what Bergen was all about."

She gave him a tight lipped smile. "How fortunate for me," she said, looking back down at her book.

"You should take a break from all that studying too," he said. "It's good to have some fun, get away for a time and all that."

"I can after my exams this week, and the winter holidays start after classes end Friday so I have all next week off. So, rest assured, I will," she said, not looking up as she wrote a problem out on a blank part of her notebook.

"Great! We should go out then," he said, leaning forward.

She froze, looking up at him with a furrowed brow. "Wait, what?"

"Yeah! You just said that you have all next week off, right? We should do something together."

"No," she said, looking back down.

"Oh, come on," he said, smiling at her.

"What if we went, um, skiing?" he asked her, holding up one of the magazines that he'd bought and showing a picture of a skier on the cover. "There is a center not too far from here right, Heimdall?"

She looked up at him again, amused this time.

"Heimdall is a mythical Norse figure, he's the gatekeeper to Asgard. HEMSEDEL is a ski center several hours from here," she told him, setting her arms over her book now.

"So we can go?" he asked, grinning at her again.

"I'm not going to go somewhere with a strange man I don't know," she said, giving him a pointed look. "Regardless of how charming he tries to be."

His face fell a little bit, but he gave her another grin before holding up his magazines and looked down at them, thumbing through the glossy pages again.

She worked in silence for several more minutes, glancing up at him as he looked dejectedly through his magazines before she sighed, leaning back in her chair.

"Look," she said. "I'm sure you're a nice guy."

"You're right, I'm a very nice guy."

She rolled her eyes. "I'm just, this is stressful. These exams are important and difficult. I need to focus on them. I'm sorry if I snapped."

He smiled at her again. "I get it, stress is a bitch."

She blinked for a moment before nodding.

"So, skiing?"

She opened her mouth to protest.

"Cause," he said, pausing for a moment. "I-I really have been wanting to try and find someone nice that wouldn't mind trying to show me a thing or two. It's kind of what I came here for," he admitted.

She closed her mouth, looking at him as he gave her a pleading look.

"Besides, it would be good fun for you, after all those exams and get your holiday off on the right foot?"

She sighed. "You're a stubborn one, aren't you?"

"Extremely," he agreed. "So, Saturday?"

She raised a brow. "Certainly not trying to waste any time, now are we?"

He shrugged. "I gotta get back to work soon."

She sighed, shaking her head. "I can't believe I'm doing this but okay, yes, fine. I'll go with you."

"Awesome," he said, smiling even wider at her.

She surrendered her phone number and address to him, programming his into her phone.

"It's not a date though," she said, looking up at him warily. "I'm, I'm being nice and teaching you how to ski."

He held his hands up. "Not a date," he said. "Unless you change your mind."

She scoffed, rolling her eyes at him. "I doubt that."

He grinned at her, packing his magazines into his shop bag and standing up.

She raised a brow, looking at him curiously now. "Leaving already?"

"I have things to plan," he told her, winking at her. "I'll see you Saturday though. And I'll be in touch. Good luck on those exams."

She watched as he skipped out the door, giving her a wave as he spun around on the sidewalk, still wearing a big grin on his face. She shook her head, wondering what she'd gotten herself into.

She turned her attention back to her books, having trouble focusing now as her attention kept wandering back to Jack.

The bell tinkered on the door again and she glanced up to see the red-haired form of her sister coming into the shop.

"Hey Anna," she said, closing her barely touched notebook and beginning to pack up her things.

"Hey!" Anna replied, stopping beside her and smiling. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah," Elsa said, shoving her things into her bag and standing up. "See you tomorrow, Mr. Tjenersen!" she called, waving at the older man as they left the shop arm in arm.

"So!" Anna started. "Anything fun happen today?"

Anna always started their walk off with the same question, Elsa just had an interesting answer this time.

"Actually, yes. We're going to Hemsedel this weekend."

"Oh?" Anna asked. "Do tell."


	2. Chapter 2

It was Saturday morning, early Saturday morning now. And instead of sleeping in late like she wanted to be doing, Elsa was awake and preparing herself a travel mug of tea for a four hour journey up to the ski center. She'd passed her test the day before, at least she felt very good about how she'd done on the test the day before.

With the week being full of studying and preparing for everything with the exam for Professor Røyskattsen, she hardly had time to worry about the polite favor she was doing for Jack. Jack, the American tourist that she'd met in Kai's bookstore and agreed to go to Hemsedel with.

She scowled down into her empty mug as she poured a large measure of hot water into it. What had she been thinking when she'd agreed to go with him. She'd been thinking it was polite of course. Her scowl deepened as she added her teabags, dunking them several times to allow the tea leaves to begin to steep in the water.

"What, are you finally starting to question drinking that nasty leaf water?" Anna's voice came from beside her, leaning against the counter beside her a moment later. "I don't understand why you don't drink coffee, it's so much easier to make."

Elsa's scowl faded, replaced with one of amusement as she glanced up at her sister, brow raised.

"I don't understand how you can drink that bitter bean water, I find tea much more palatable."

Anna rolled her eyes, turning around and grabbing at the pot of coffee that Elsa had prepared for her. Elsa may not drink it, but she knew better than to be around Anna for very long without it. Anna began to prepare her own mug for the journey.

"Remind me again why we're up this early on a Saturday?" Anna asked, yawning as she measured cream and sugar into her mug before pouring the dark brown liquid over the top.

"Because I was being nice, and polite," Elsa reminded, sipping at her tea to taste it.

"And I'm going because..."

"Because you're being nice," Elsa said, smiling at Anna. "And you're a good sister."

"Ah," Anna said, nodding. "Right. And you're scared of mister hunkalicious."

Elsa blinked at her. "Mister who?"

"Jack! You haven't stopped talking about him since that day in the bookstore."

Elsa opened her mouth to reply, pausing when the doorbell rang and gave Anna a smile and a shrug before moving to answer the door. Jack stood there, leaning against the doorframe and looking comfortable in an oversized blue sweatshirt and dark colored jeans. His bleached hair was wild, the wind blowing it even more untamed as he grinned at her.

"Hey," he said. "You ready to go?"

She gave him a polite smile back, holding the door open to let him in.

"We were just finishing up getting ready to go," she said. "You don't mind if my sister goes, right?"

He shrugged. "More the merrier," he said, giving Anna a wave. She waved back, smiling before taking a sip of her coffee.

"Would you like something to drink before we get going? Coffee?"

"Nah, I've got something outside. Thanks though," he said. "Just need to get you guys now."

Elsa gave him another smile, nodding and moving around him to the hall closet. She pulled open the door, setting her mug safely away on the ground and reached inside for two athletic bags, pulling them out with a grunt.

Elsa and Anna both had ski equipment of their own, with so many ski centers in Norway it was quite common to have your own items, and they had set everything in the closet the night before. Anna bent down behind her, swinging the handle of one bag up over her shoulder before stepping forward to pull her pair of skis from the closet, Elsa mirroring Anna's movements with her own bag and her own skis.

They both turned to Jack, who was watching them with a look akin to amusement as Elsa bent to retrieve her mug of tea.

"Ready," Anna said cheerfully, sipping her coffee.

"Purse?" Jack asked, a curious note in her voice.

"Not for the slopes," Elsa said. "Everything is either in the ski bag or in our pockets. We travel light, not the first time going to the center."

He grinned. "Girls that travel light, I like that. You could pass that on to a couple people that I know, my sister in particular."

They both smiled at him, all three of them moving back towards the door and outside into the cool morning air, barely lit by the just rising sun and the streetlamps. A SUV sat at the curb, idling quietly on the otherwise empty street as Elsa turned to lock up the house before they moved down to the curb.

Jack popped the back hatch open, revealing an athletic bag of his own already sitting against one side of the car with the magazines from the other day scattered across the back. Elsa raised an eyebrow at him as he bent forward to gather them up, giving her a nervous smile as he did so.

"Whoops," he said. "I guess they didn't want to stay put."

He shoved them back against his own bag.

"You have your own equipment? I thought you didn't ski?" she asked him, setting her bag in the back, Anna following suit.

He paused, giving her another nervous grin. "Thought it would be a good idea to have my own things for today," he said, shutting the hatch and moving to step on the side rail to anchor their skis on the rack on top of the car.

She watched as he deftly, quickly tied them down, like he'd done it many times before. She frowned, shrugged and her eyes fell on his own pair of skis already attached on the top rack of the vehicle.

"Those are nice skis," she commented, feeling her brows rise at the brand. "And expensive."

He chuckled. "What, are you giving me the third degree here?"

She blushed, looking down at the ground in embarrassment. "Sorry," she said, handing up Anna's skis to him.

"I guess I just had a really good salesmen. He said these were the best, and I said I wanted the best."

She nodded silently, agreeing that he'd gotten a good set and wondering how much money he had. Good skis, his own equipment for not knowing what he was doing, and a nice, private rental car?

"I assumed we'd be taking the train," she continued, cautiously.

"Nah," he said, tightening a strap before jumping down. "We'll take this! Then we can stop and get something to eat on the way, take our time. It will be fun!"

He grinned at her before skipping around to the driver's side of the car while Elsa glanced at Anna. Anna smiled at her, shrugging before gripping the handle to the rear passenger door in her hand, opening it and quickly climbing in. Leaving Elsa, to sit in the front. Beside Jack. She took a deep breath, glancing up at the sky for a moment before climbing in herself.

Inside the car, Jack was tapping on a small GPS screen, frowning at it as he tried to put the location in it. They waited in the car for several long, silent moments before he sighed and looked up.

"Can you help me?" he asked. "This... It keeps pulling up all the locations in Norwegian."

She looked over at him, giving him another polite smile and took the small GPS unit from his hands, glancing down to read the names of the cities before tapping the correct one. She watched as the directions came up, the cool, monotone voice calling out the first directions. He smiled at her.

"Awesome, thanks," he said, fitting the unit into the dash unit holder and maneuvering the car out onto the street. "Let's get this adventure started."

Elsa glanced down at her mug, taking a long drink of her warm tea. She wasn't sure what the day was going to bring, but she was certain that "adventure" was the perfect way to describe it.

The car ride was long, the four hour trip starting by agonizingly slow as Jack did his best to get conversation flowing with Elsa. She answered back politely, trying not to be rude but still not entirely comfortable as the robotic voice of the GPS guided them onto the E16.

Anna was the first to begin to chat amicably with him, the two trading conversation and various topics easily while Elsa sat back and listened. She slowly eased into talking with them both, all three of them chatting happily when Jack pulled off on an exit and chose a small cafe for them to eat at.

Both of the girls teased him at the large amount of food that he ordered for breakfast, Anna asking him where he planned to put all of it. While Jack wolfed down his ample breakfast, Anna and Elsa both chose a lighter fare. Anna choose an open sandwich with cold cuts and Norvegia cheese while Elsa choose a porridge.

Back on the road, the sun fully up and bright in the cloudless sky they continued to talk, and laugh and began to tease each other as they neared the resort. The amount of taxis on the road picked up dramatically as they passed the city of Gol, where the closest train station to Hemsedel was located.

"Lots of people coming out," Anna remarked, watching as the amount of traffic on the road caused Jack to slow down. "I guess they had a similar idea that you did Jack."

He shrugged. "I'm sure it's big enough for everyone."

They made their way into the resort, behind the taxis and other cars full of families hoping to make it out to the slopes for the day or weekend. Then they drove through the lot, hunting for a parking spot while also hoping they'd come across someone already leaving for the day.

Finally parked, they piled out, all groaning from stiff necks and legs from the long car ride before they released the skis mounted on the top of the car and all grabbed their bags from the back. Then, they began the long walk from the parking lot to the resort entrance, Anna making friendly quips about how she couldn't wait to see Jack fall on his face. Jack, for all his good humor, teased her right back.

They made their way inside, Jack paying their entrance fee with a quick, nonchalant wave of his hand and a flourish of a credit card to the bored cashier, desperately trying to put on a happy face for the busy weekend. The sisters led the way inside, weaving through various attraction signs and tourist trap info stands to the changing rooms, marked with their gender icons.

"Meet you back here in five?" Elsa asked, hitching her back up on her shoulder as she glanced back at him.

He nodded, giving her a mock salute and turned into the men's side, pulling open the door and disappearing inside while the sisters went the opposite direction. Inside the changing area, they sat down in a small area, surrounded by large lockers for equipment bags and leaned their skis against the lockers. The chorus of zippers was heard as they unzipped their bags, pulling out sets of ski clothes, sweatshirts and sweatpants.

"Layers," Anna muttered, pulling her top off and stuffing it into her bag. "Always layers. I know it pays off in the end but it's always a pain."

Elsa chuckled, stripping down herself to the layer of thermal underwear they both had wore from the house that morning before pulling on the set of sweats that she had packed. Then came the ski pants and ski jacket, her set being a nice shade of light blue while Anna's was a mixed color set of purple and dark blue. Then came socks, two pair. A thin tight pair and then a heavy woolen pair. Finally, she worked her padded feet into ski boots, clinching the laces tight and working her foot around. The last things in her bag, other than the clothes she had been wearing before, were her ski poles. She pulled them out, leaning them against her skis.

She glanced over at Anna, watching as the younger girl was stuffing her braided pigtails up into a knit hat. Elsa fished Anna's ski gloves and ski poles out of her bag, replacing Anna's discarded clothing into the bag before choosing an unused locker, stuffing both of their bags inside and locking it with the lock she had kept in her own bag. Her own gloves were stuffed into the pockets of her own jacket.

"Ready?" Elsa asked, picking her skis back up.

Anna nodded. "Yep! Let's go see what this guy has in him. Hope he can handle falling a lot."

Elsa chuckled, following Anna out of the changing room.

Jack waited outside, lazily leaning against the building in his own ski attire, ski poles looped around his wrists. He jumped forward, grinning at them both with skis in hand when he saw them.

"You guys ready?" he asked, smile wide on his face.

"Are you?" Anna asked, an amused tone in her voice.

"Yeah! Why wouldn't I be?" he asked.

"Isn't this your first time doing this? Elsa is supposed to be teaching you?" Anna asked, the three of them beginning to walk towards the smallest slope, the starting area. They could see the large amount of children in the area, laughing and shouting at each other as they shuffled around on their skis, some falling over and crying as they failed to balance themselves.

He hesitated for a moment, chuckled. "Well, I'm sure she's a good teacher," he said. "Besides, it's going to be fun. I said today is going to be an adventure, right? Besides, I'm a quick learner."

They made their way over to the area, finding a small patch of hill away from the groups of children where they could have a relatively private area. Elsa bent down, laying Jack's skis down on the ground and guiding his feet into the footholds. He grinned at her as she straightened, stamping his feet in the snow in his skis.

She smiled, shaking her head as she moved and stepped into her own skis, reaching down to make sure that they clicked into place correctly and adjusted her own footing while Anna taunted Jack.

"You're going down pretty boy," she said, leaning in towards him, putting weight on her ski poles.

"Pretty boy?" he said, Elsa seeing him grin at her as she straightened. "I'll take that as a compliment."

Anna laughed, pushing forward to slid down the small hill a few meters before turning around and coming back up. Elsa grinned, shaking her head at Anna.

"Stop teasing him," she chastised.

Anna giggled, coming up beside her sister as Elsa began to explain to Jack how to keep his balance on the skis, how to move his feet in the snow and how to speed up and slow down. After several minutes of going through the basic first steps, and both of them demonstrating for him on the small hill.

"Okay," Elsa said, coming back up the small incline. "Now it's your turn to try."

He grinned at her, slowly turning his skis to try to go down the hill like she'd shown him.

And he promptly fell over.

Anna erupted into giggled, bending over at her waist as she laughed. Elsa smiled too, trying hard not to as she came over to him, offering a hand down to help him back up.

"We warned you that you'd fall," she cautioned, smiling at him.

"Yeah, yeah," he said, climbing back upright. "I remember."

Anna was still giggling behind them as he tried again to go down the hill. He made it down the hill this time, losing his balance half way and sliding in the snow part of the way down. Anna erupted into laughter again, holding her sides as she gasped for air.

Elsa patiently talked him through keeping his balance, keeping his skis at the right angle and going down the hill properly. And Jack kept falling over while Anna erupted with laughed from the makeshift sideline. The amusement slowly faded from Elsa though as she studied him, trying to see what mistakes he was making to try and correct them. She frowned as the watched him fall.

"You... you fall correctly," she told him as he made his way back to the top of the small hill, a confused note in her voice.

"Huh?" he said, looking over at her. "What do you mean?"

She crossed her arms, looking confused at him. "You don't fall like a beginner. You fall like... like you know what you're doing, like you're doing it on purpose."

He stiffened slightly, swallowing hard. "I - uh."

She sighed, giving him an annoyed look. "Why didn't you just say you knew how to ski? We could have been having fun on one of the nicer slopes? Not playing around here on this little one, not that Anna hasn't been enjoying herself."

Anna saluted in response, cheeks still red from laughter.

Jack didn't answer, eyes widening as he looked between them.

"So," she said, gesturing to him. "Show me what you got."

He didn't respond for another moment.

"Jack," Anna groaned. "Come on, show us. As hilarious as it is to watch you fall on your face, I want to have some fun of my own today."

Slowly, his face broke into a grin. "You sure? You wanna see what I can do?"

Elsa blinked at him, confused. "Yeah, of course."

He nodded, still smiling. "Okay, follow me then."

"Wha?" Elsa said, turning as he quickly moved to her, linking his arm in hers.

"I can't show you here," he explained, pulling on her arm. "We need to go to a different course."

Elsa rolled her eyes, moving to follow behind the much faster moving Jack now.

He led them from the starting area, around the entrance area to the snowboarding slope course. Anna and Elsa looked at each other, both giving confused looks as they slowed down.

"This is the snowboarding course," Anna said loudly.

Jack turned. "Yep, come on."

"He's going to kill himself," Elsa muttered, moving forward again. "Some idiot American who thinks he can do everything."

Anna snorted. "Could be fun to watch though."

"You're a sadist."

Jack waited for them at spot off to the side at the bottom of the hill, grinning widely.

"You sure you still want to see?"

"Not if means you hurting yourself," Elsa said, giving him a skeptical look.

"Nah," he said, pulling the ski poles off his wrists. "Done this lots of times. Mind holding these for me? They get in the way."

She took the poles that he held out to her, that wide grin on his face still in place. He pointed up to the top where a platform stood, a snowboarder jumping out of the starting area to start down the course.

"I'll whistle when I get up there so you know I'm coming down. Doesn't take too long to get up there," he said.

She quirked a brow at him, unable to reply before he turned and sped off, feet moving expertly across the snow towards the lift that would take him to the top of the course.

"I don't think he's a beginner at all," Anna muttered, crossing her arms.

"Beginning to get that impression," Elsa replied, a cross note in her voice. "Certainly beginning to get that impression."

They watched as several snowboarders made their way down the course, a couple falling after attempting decent tricks, another making it down the course to celebrate with his friends at the bottom. Elsa shifted the poles in her hands, starting to wonder how long it did take to get to the top of the course when a long, harsh whistle came from the top.

They both glanced up, seeing Jack's shape waving from the starting platform. They waved back.

"Bet you 100 Krone that he falls on his face again," Anna challenged, smiling over at Elsa.

Elsa didn't respond, watching as Jack stretched his arms for a moment, turning his head to say something to someone behind him.

Then he was stepping off the platform and carefully setting his skis sideway on the steep slope, reaching up to adjust his hat as he looked down at the course.

"I think he's a lot better than we think," Elsa murmured, crossing her arms to mirror Anna.

Jack's head snapped up and his whole body jumped, turning and he was going down the slope backwards.

"Oh!" Anna said, jumping beside Elsa.

Jack jumped onto a set of railing, the sound of skis on metal echoing down to the bottom before he deftly jumped off, skiing down a little further to the next set of rails and repeating the process, shifting the way he was facing on the rails mid slide. The next set of rails he came to, he flipped over completely, one hand touching the metal railing as he sailed over them to land cleanly on the other side before continuing down the slope.

Then he was off the first snow ramp, the one that they'd seen some of the snowboarders do a turn or a flip off of. Jack went off the end of the ramp and spun around like a top, turning around several times in the air before landing backwards on the slope and looking behind him at the next snow ramp. He'd obviously meant to land like that.

Anna gasped beside Elsa again, her hands grabbing onto Elsa's arm now as they watched him.

Jack spun off the next ramp, twisting and turning the air again with ease before landing on both skis, staring ahead at his next destination. He shot off the last ramp, going high into the air as he twisted around in the air again, and again, and again, landing like a gymnast and pumping a fist up in the air. He was obviously proud of something that he'd done.

He sped over to them, skis turned sideway to slow him down as the momentum of the run down the huge hill died down. He wore a huge smile on his face, looking between their two stunned faces as he panted from the exertion of his efforts.

"Well?" he asked, putting his hands above his head. "What'd you think?"

They stared at him, not saying anything.

He chuckled, turning to look back at the slope.

"I mean, I know that was a good run and all, but certainly you can say something about it."

Some of the snowboarders, who had also been watching, made their way over to him.

"Jack? Jack FROST?" one of them said, causing him to turn around curiously.

They all bumped each other, grinning widely.

Elsa recovered herself. "You said your last name was Overland," she said cautiously, beginning to wonder how much of what he'd told her was actually true.

"It is," he said quickly. "Jack Frost is my, uhm, well it's my professional name."

"Your what?"

"Dude, Jack Frost is like, one of the best professional slopestyle skiers in the world," one of the snowboarders said, leaning forward. "He just won the X-Games a couple months ago, he's a favorite to make the U.S. Olympic team next year!"

Elsa glanced up at him, feeling her lips purse as she looked at him. He chuckled, looking nervously around him.

"Dude, Jack, can we have an autograph?" someone in the group said, all of them shuffling around to try to find something for him to sign.

"Uhh, yeah, sure," Jack said, turning to face the group.

Elsa dropped his poles, feeling her temper flare up inside her and turned to Anna.

"Let's go," she said in Norsk, bending her said to say it quietly.

They backed out of the group, skiing quickly back across the flat area to the entrance, stopping at one of the large bulletin boards with "Transit Information" labeled at the top. A sign next to the board stated that "Taxis take 20 minutes to arrive to the resort, please keep in mind when trying to catch your train."

"When is the next train back to Bergen?" Elsa said, looking around for the train timetable.

"Here it is," Anna said after a moment, finger running down the list of numbers. "Uhh, probably the one at 1500? What time is it now?"

Elsa checked her watch and groaned. "1445. We won't make it. When is the next one?"

Anna winced. "Five hours from now."

"Great. Just great," Elsa said, bending down and unclipping herself from her skis forcefully. "That lying-"

"Hey," Jack's voice came, the sound of skis stopping had her glancing up as she stepped out of her own. "Everything okay?"

She glared at him.

"Fine," she said curtly, bending to pick up her skis.

"We're just ready to go," Anna said slowly, giving Elsa a strange look.

"Oh," Jack said, looking surprised. "Um, okay. That's fine. Let me go change and we can get going then."

Elsa snapped up again, still glaring at him.

"Jeg vil heller ta en tur fra djevelen, men jeg antar at vi ikke har mye annet valg enn å gå med deg, du lyver stakkar!" she told him, turning to stomp off to the changing room.

Jack and Anna both watched her go. Anna chuckled nervously, looking back at Jack.

"Um, she said that would be fine."

Jack slowly turned to look at Anna. "Yeah," he said cautiously. "Don't think that's what she said, but thanks. I'll go hurry and get changed now."

"Jack?"

He paused, still looking confused.

"Elsa, Elsa really doesn't like being lied to," Anna said, casting a wary glance at the changing room.

"Thinking that's a bit of an understatement, but thanks, again," he said, bending to unclip his skis and hurry into the changing room himself. This was going to be an interesting drive back to Bergen.

* * *

**_Translated, what Elsa said was: "I would rather take a ride from the devil, but I guess we don't have much choice but to go with you, you lying wretch."_**

**_Also, another note. I did not add in Anna having a sandwich for breakfast for shits and giggles. It's actually a thing in Norway. This I gleaned from a friend who is Norwegian and from Wikipedia._**

**_"80% of Norwegians eat breakfast daily, mostly at home. The most common breakfast is open sandwiches, often whole wheat bread, with cheese like brunost and Norvegia, cold cuts, leverpostei, jam etc. Common drinks are water, coffee, milk and juice. Another common breakfast is breakfast cereals like corn flakes eaten with milk, kulturmelk or yogurt. Whole-grain porridges with regular milk or butter are popular. More ample breakfasts may include fish, cheese, eggs, bacon, breads, hot and cold cereals eaten in various combinations"_**

**_Please review, let me know what you think!_**


	3. Chapter 3

_**Hey guys, bit of a transition chapter here. Working on the next one that I hope I'll have up this week as well! Enjoy, and let me know what you think! Love! Aria**_

* * *

The car ride back to Bergen was tense, Elsa refusing to sit in the front as they loaded all of their equipment back into the car. Everything was silent for long, awkward minutes as the tension in the air was palpable.

"So, you're a professional skier," Anna finally said, as Jack navigated back onto the E16 and merged into the flow of traffic. "That's... that's neat."

Jack shifted in his seat, glancing over briefly at her nervously. "Yeah, we're here training for a couple of months. Me and a couple of my team mates. I've had the last week off because I twisted my knee trying a new trick, was told to take a few days off."

"Does that happen often? Hurting yourself, I mean," Anna asked.

Jack gave her a sheepish grin. "I hurt my pride more than anything most of the time, I'm pretty resilient. At least, I am for now."

Anna gave him a smile, glancing back to give her sister a hopeful smile. Elsa turned and looked out the window, not saying anything.

"So, those guys, the ones all asking for your autograph, they said you'd won a bunch of awards or something? Titles?"

Jack nodded. "Yeah, I've done pretty well for myself," he said, smiling. "Bit of a natural I guess, it's just fun for me. I actually hated it at first, never wanted to go to the slopes."

"What changed your mind?" Anna asked, turning in her seat to look at him, curious now.

Jack grinned at her. "I found out that you could spin around. Before I had just being doing the plain downhill skiing, like alpine skiing? Yeah, it bored me silly. But, one day I just saw someone doing like what you saw me doing. All the twists and tricks and, aw man I was just hooked then. We had this trampoline at my mom's house, and I'd spend hours on it, twisting and flipping around on it, trying to get the air I needed to try and get the moves right."

"And you did, obviously," Anna said, happily. "That was amazing what you did back there."

He grinned again. "Yeah?"

Anna cast a wary glance back at Elsa, who was still staring out the window, arms crossed over her chest.

"Yeah!" she said, turning back to Jack. "The way you just flew way up into the air and twisted around and around, it's like you were a top almost!"

He chuckled, smiling widely as she moved her hands to try and replicate his earlier moves on the slope.

"Why don't you use the ski poles though?" she asked after several moments of attempting to recreate his tricks.

He moved his right hand off the steering wheel and shook his wrist at her. "Fell hard on this wrist during a competition a few years ago, one of my first ones actually. Broke it pretty good and was in a cast for awhile, then in a brace for even longer. It felt weird trying to use my poles while in the brace once I could start training again, so I just got used to not using them. It's actually easier now, I think, to do everything without them because I can grab my skis easier."

They fell back into silence for long moments, several kilometers passing of the same tense silence before Anna tried to start the conversation again.

"So, you said something about your mom earlier, is she here with you?"

Jack shook his head. "Nah, she's back home in the States with my sister and my dad. No need for them to be here for training after all, nothing really exciting happens. Unless I fall on my ass like I did last week."

Anna grinned at him. "That happen often?"

"Not as often as you would like," he said, grinning at her. "I'll have you know ALL of that bunny hill was for show and entertainment."

Anna laughed, pulling a leg up underneath her. "Entertainment successful," she declared, giving him a nod of approval. "Sister, eh? What is she like?"

"Well, aren't you the inquisitive one?" he asked, quirking a brow at her. "Yes, sister. Younger, she's still in school."

"Well, it seems you have a lot to tell," she said, reaching out and poking him before taking a moment to glance back at Elsa. Jack glanced up in the rear view mirror as well.

"Yeah," he agreed. "I do."

The conversation fell into an ease between the two, going back and forth about a variety of topics as they sped along back towards Bergen, Anna pointing out and translating road signs that they passed along the way. Jack and Anna even got into a short game of "I-Spy" before Jack declared it was no fair, as Anna would use the proper names for items rather than his Americanized descriptions of things they passed.

"So, what about you guys?" he asked, merging over a lane as they neared the exit they needed for Bergen. "Is it just you two or do you have more family?"

Anna paused for a moment, her smile fading slightly. "We do," she said. "Technically our parents live with us."

Jack glanced at her, brow furrowed. "Technically?"

"They are always gone on business, one city or country to the next. Papa is the CEO of a big company here in Norway and he's always gone, mama travels with him. When we were younger, she would stay with us and papa would either commute or do what he could by phone, but now that we're older," she trailed off for a moment. "Well, we just really like it in Bergen. Elsa goes to University there, and I want to as well. So we just don't see them as often as before."

Jack nodded. "That has to be hard," he said.

Anna nodded. "Sometimes, but, but we make do."

The remaining part of the car ride, the last solid half hour, was finished in silence as the sun dipped low on the horizon. Jack fished a pair of sunglasses out of the center console, using them and his sun shade to block the glare of the setting sun. Anna navigated him back to their house, calmly giving him instructions on which roads to take in the busy rush hour traffic.

As soon as he had stopped the car, the gear shifting up into park, Elsa had flung open her door and was stepping out onto the sidewalk, slamming the door hard behind her. Jack winced, sighing heavily and leaning his head forward onto the steering wheel. The back hatch opened a moment later, causing him to straighten quickly and move to get out of the car.

"Get the skis please, Anna," Elsa said, fitting the straps of the ski bags over her shoulders and pulled them out of the back of the vehicle, turning to walk towards the front entrance of their house.

"Here," Jack said, motioning to try and take a bag from her as she worked to fish her keys from her pocket.

"I'm fine," she snapped, looking up at him coldly. "You've done quite enough for today, Mr. Overland. Thank you, so very much, for everything."

He paused, swallowing, watching as she turned, selected the key she wanted and fitted it into the doorknob, unlocking the door to step inside and slam it behind her. He sighed heavily again, turning back around to look at Anna.

"Well," he said ruefully, giving her a half smile. "I think it's safe to say that I've ruined that chance."

Anna returned his pitiful smile with a pitying one of her own.

"What made you want to ask her out in the first place? Most people pass over Elsa, she doesn't come across as friendly to most people."

He sighed again, stepping forward and up onto the running board of the SUV to begin untying the skis mounted on the top.

"I thought she was very nice, actually. I went into that bookshop, looking for something to read and a place to sit for a few minutes to rest my knee, the owner was having trouble understanding me."

Anna smiled. "Poor Kai," she said. "He tries so hard."

Jack grinned. "He seemed like a nice guy too. Anyways, he and I just- the language barrier was evident. So, well I assume he asked her for help because she came over a minute later and helped me, gave me a bunch of book recommendations too. She seemed really," he paused for a moment, looking up into the sky as he paused for the right word. "Really passionate about the books, excited when she was describing them. It was hard to not want to read them after she was telling me about them."

Anna smiled, taking a set of skis from him when he handed them down to her.

"Then, after that, I don't know, I just wanted to keep talking to her. I think she was annoyed that I did though," he continued, working to untie the second set. "She just seemed really interesting. I mean, she's gorgeous, that's a given, but I just, I liked talking to her."

"And the skiing thing?"

He chuckled. "That was me putting my foot in my mouth. I don't know, I was trying to think of something for us to do, and skiing is kinda always on my mind."

"Why didn't you just tell her you were a professional?"

"Because for one," he said, grunting as he pulled the skis off the rack and handed them down to Anna. "The last time I tried that I got laughed at. And for two, what would my pick up line have been? 'Hey, I might be in one of these magazines I just bought, wanna see?' Come on."

Anna's lips twitched in a held back smile.

"Though, going the total novice approach didn't work either for me," he said, sighing and leaning back against the car. "And, based on her reactions after seeing me perform, I doubt she's ever going to want to talk to me again."

He gave her a half shrug, glancing sadly at the closed front door.

Anna stood looking at him for a moment, studying him before she gave a long sigh, shifting the skis in her arms to set them against the car.

"Don't make me regret this," she said, pointing a finger at him.

He glanced over at her, brow quirked as she held out her hand to him.

"What?" he asked her, confused.

"Give me your phone," she said, an amused look on her face.

"Why?" he asked again, still unmoving.

"So I can give you my number," she said again, gesturing with her hand.

A grin crossed his features. "Look, I'm flattered but I-"

"No, you idiot," she said, punching him in the arm. "I'm going to help you. With Elsa. She's got a temper, if you didn't figure that one out already. She needs some time to cool off, and some talking to as well. Maybe some flowers as well. And chocolate. Definitely chocolate."

A slow smile spread across his face and a hand reached to dip into his pocket, pulling out the mobile phone.

"You're going to HELP me?" he asked, holding it out for her.

"As I said, DON'T make me regret it," she said, tapping her number into the phone and sending herself a message to have his number herself. "You seem like a nice guy with some idiotic ideas so far."

"Well, I don't know if I'd go as far as idiotic," he said, shifting his stance. "Misaligned perhaps?"

Anna snorted, holding the phone out for him again and picked the skis up off the car, turning to head towards the house.

"Hey, one last question," he said, causing her to pause and look back at him.

"Hmm?"

"Why-Why did she reaction like that? React that strongly that, that I lied to her? I mean, I feel bad and I shouldn't have done it but it was a rather impressive reaction," he said, trailing off on the last word.

Anna looked at him for a long moment, biting her lip before she eventually shook her head.

"That, that isn't for me to say I don't think," she said. "That's something you'll have to wait for her to tell you."

He looked at her for a long moment before nodded. "Fair enough," he said, giving her a salute. "I'll be seeing you then, hopefully soon."

Anna smiled, working at the doorknob. "Yep," she agreed, stepping inside and shutting the door behind her, setting the skis against the wall and looking around.

"Elsa?" she called, sliding her boots off and stepping into their house; the skis could be put up later. "Elsa, are you alright?"

"I'm fine," came the terse reply, her older sister emerging from the upper level already changed from the clothing she had been wearing into something more comfortable. "Did you take your medicine yet? You're almost past due, I can't believe I forgot to take it with me."

Anna smiled, heading into the kitchen and grabbing at her medicine bottle. "I'm fine, you know I am."

"But-"

"Elsa, one late dose isn't going to kill me, you know that," Anna said firmly, twisting off the lid and scooping out a couple of blue and white circular pills. "And you didn't have to be so mean to Jack."

Anna watched as Elsa's face tightened from concerned to annoyed.

"I don't like people that lie to me," she said simply.

"Elsa, he's not like that," she said, pulling a cup from a cabinet to fill with water to take her medicine. "He was just, just caught in a moment. A dumb boy moment."

Elsa watched her for a moment, lips thin in aggravated annoyance. "Are you defending what he did then?"

Anna sighed. "No. Yes? Maybe. No, he shouldn't have lied but he didn't do it like they did," she said, popping the pills into her mouth and washing them down a moment later. "He seemed really upset."

Elsa pursed her lips, turning on her heel and going back up the stairs without another word. Anna watched her, wincing as the door closed hard upstairs.

'_Temper,'_ Anna thought. '_Temper, temper, temper._'


	4. Chapter 4

_**Here you are my lovelies, I hope you enjoy! Please let me know what you think! Love! Aria.**_

* * *

Elsa slept in late the next day, the exhaustion from the hellish week of tests before and the excitement (and anger) from the day before. She languidly stretched out in her bed, moaning softly as her tired muscles were stretched out before glancing over at the clock beside her. Almost one in the afternoon; she really had slept in late.

She kicked the sheets off, not bothering to make the bed behind her; she had plans to return to it later and read the book she'd been putting off for the last few weeks. She yawned as she shuffled from her room, setting one foot in front of the other heavily as she trudged down the steps and into the kitchen.

"Morning sleepy head!" Anna's cheery voice came from the living room, the television on at a blaring level to reruns of the Eurovision Song Contest.

Elsa smiled, making a direct line for the cabinet that held the cups and mugs; she needed her morning cup. She paused though, a brilliant flash of color catching the corner of her eye and turned to see a brilliant bouquet of flowers, their multicolored petals cheery in her half awoken state, sitting on the counter opposite the sink.

"Who are those from?" she asked loudly, turning her head back to Anna.

"Dunno!" Anna shouted as an act on the TV blared up a notch. "They are addressed to you."

Elsa frowned, her hands moving away from the cabinet and stepped over to the vase.

"Think father could have sent them?" she asked again, fumbling with the small enveloped card on a tiny plastic holder. ""Sorry, can't come back for your holiday like we promised. Something came up."?"

"Possible," Anna said. "Though, we already got the phone call yesterday you know, and mother was quick to give us the sob filled apology."

Elsa chuckled. "Oh yes, how could I forget."

She pulled at the card, frowning as it was stuck in the envelope. The paper tore, releasing its piece of cardstock and she tossed the ruined holder onto the counter, turning the card over to read it.

Her grin, thinking that the flowers were some weak attempt at an apology, quickly faded when she read over the card.

"It's from Jack," she said in a monotone.

Anna leaped off the couch, hurrying into the kitchen. "Ooh, what does it say?"

Elsa looked up, giving her sister an unamused look.

""Sorry for yesterday, please give me another chance. - Jack,"" she read aloud, glancing back down at the card and then back up at her sister.

Anna grimaced. "Well, you only get so much space on those cards," she reasoned, giving Elsa a grin.

Elsa quirked a brow.

"They are pretty flowers!" Anna continued, looking down at the bouquet. "Look, lilies! Your favorites."

"Anna..."

"And daisies, who doesn't love daisies."

"Anna, did you tell him my favorite flowers?"

Anna paused, looking up at Elsa slyly. "Maybe?" she said, grinning slowly. "But he did ASK me first."

Elsa reached forward, gripping the flower arrangement in one hand, the card still in another and turned on her heel. She took two steps, placed her foot on the lever to open the garbage bin and dropped both card and flowers, vase and all, into the trash.

"Elsa!"

Elsa turned, giving Anna an amused look. "Take your medicine this morning?"

Anna looked from between her sister and the bin, shocked at what she'd just seen, her mouth opening and closing several times. Elsa moved past her, resuming her ritual of making tea and possibly a sandwich. She had plans for today, and most of them involved staying in bed and not thinking about yesterday.

* * *

Monday dawned, with it's dreary overcast skies hinting at either snow, rain or simply depression for the beginning of the work week. The sisters both slept in late again, enjoying the need for nothing to be done for the day other than their own enjoyment.

Elsa came downstairs around noon again, her light colored hair in a sleep-messed plait as she made her way down to break her fast for the day. She frowned, seeing Anna on the couch again, but also fully dressed for the day.

"What are you doing all dressed for the day?" she asked, coming over beside her sister.

Anna glanced up from her, a local morning talk show wrapping up it's program segment.

"Hmm?" she said, settling a blanket around her waist more. "Oh, nothing. Just, you know, felt like looking nice today!"

Elsa raised a brow and crossed her arms. "Uh huh," she said, waiting the few moments until she knew her sister would cave; Anna was never good at keeping secrets.

"And," Anna drawled a few moments later, almost on cue. Elsa slowly smiled.

"The delivery boy was cute yesterday, so, I wanted to look nicer today than my pajamas yesterday."

The smile faded as Elsa quickly looked up into the kitchen.

Another arrangement of flowers, bigger this time, sat on the counter. There was also stuffed white bear, holding a stuffed red heart saying "Beary, Beary Sorry" on it. Elsa turned to look back at Anna, an amused glance on her face.

"Really? He thinks "Beary, Beary Sorry" is appropriate?" she asked.

"Yeah," Anna said slowly. "I'm not sure he fully thought about that one. When I suggested stuffed animal, that wasn't what I was thinking."

"Why don't you stop suggesting things to him and tell him to leave me alone? He lied. He lied about who he was. He lied about his intentions for going up there. How am I supposed to trust him now?"

"Elsa," Anna said softly. "You can't just, just ignore everyone in the world."

Elsa was silent for a long moment before she gave a derisive chuckle. "People lie. Everyone loves to lie, cheat and deceive. It's far better to be alone, you don't get hurt that way."

And with that, she walked away, going into the kitchen to fix herself something to eat and ignoring the newest arrangement on the counter, and it's cheerful stuffed bear.

* * *

Tuesday dawned the same as Monday, gloomy and overcast, as Elsa awoke this morning to the sound of the doorbell chimed happily to alert them that there was someone at the door. She went from the drowsy half awake state to kicking the covers off and hurrying out of her room and clipping down the stairs.

"...your parent's shop?" Anna was asking, her voice in that half flirty tone she liked to try to use on boys at the University.

"Yep, I just handle the deliveries," came the deep male reply.

Anna turned when Elsa made her way, loudly, to the bottom and looked around. She gave barely a moment's glance at the blonde delivery boy as she walked over to the door.

"More?" she asked, looking at Anna. "Really, he's still sending more?"

Anna shrugged. "He's determined."

Elsa sighed, looking around and frowned. She saw the flowers from yesterday, the slightly worse for wear bouquet from Monday that Anna had pulled from the can as Elsa was fixing her tea.

"Oh, right," the boy said, folding his clipboard up into his chest and giving a nervous grin. "um, be right back."

Elsa's frown deepened. "You flirting with him that much that he forgot to bring his delivery?"

Anna turned a scowling face to her sister. "Excuse you, he said he needed a signature first then he was going to go get them. And what is with you today, are you EXCITED to see what you are getting?"

"What? No!" Elsa said, a little too quickly. "Of course not, I'm mad at him. He lied to me."

A smile tugged at Anna's lips. "Uh-huh, I can really see you keeping your resolve-"

The last word trailed off as the delivery boy came tromping up the path with an enormous box of chocolates in one hand and another large arrangement of flowers balanced in the other.

"How many flowers does he think I need?" Elsa muttered, crossing her arms.

"As I said, determined."

Elsa cast her a sidelong glance. "Give me your phone, I'm going to tell him to stop."

"Not a chance," Anna said with a chuckle. "Not when there is a chance for more boxes of chocolate like this."

The delivery boy stopped before them, giving them both a courteous smile. "Here you go," he said, carefully holding both out.

The sisters reached forward in tandem to take the items; Anna taking the box of chocolates and Elsa the flowers.

"Thanks Christopher," Anna said, closing the door.

"It's Kristoff!" he said, leaning his head back to correct her as the door clicked closed.

They turned around, walking back into the deeper parts of the house carrying the day's apology gifts as Elsa pulled the small card from the holder and pulled it out to read.

""I'm very sorry for how things happened on Saturday, please give me a chance to make it up to you. -Jack. P.S. I heard you like chocolate, hopefully this is enough for both of you." I didn't even know they made boxes of chocolate that big," she said, moving the flowers to look at the large box that Anna held.

Anna grinned up at Elsa. "So, that means we can share it, right?"

Elsa raised an eyebrow. "You're insane if you think I'm eating ALL of those on my own."

Anna giggled, skipping forward to set the wrapped box on the counter and digging a pair of scissors from a drawer to start to open it. Elsa didn't move, taking a moment to look at the arrangement she held, turning it several different ways.

"The flowers are quite lovely," she commented, finally stepping forward to set it by the others.

Anna turned, giving her a wide grin. Elsa looked up after a moment.

"What?" Elsa asked, blinking.

"Starting to melt a little bit, eh Ice Queen?" Anna said jokingly, still grinning as she pulled the last of the plastic wrap off the box.

Elsa scowled. "I'm just, I'm commenting on how nice of a job the florist did."

"Uh-huh."

"Don't you uh-huh me," Elsa said, stepping forward and pulling the box away from Anna. "Or else you won't get any of MY chocolates."

"Elsa! No fair!" Anna said, hurrying after her elder sister as they raced into the living area and flopped onto the couch, the box of chocolates rattling as they did so.

Both sisters giggled, reverently opening the box like small children on christmas morning and grinning up at each other as the miniature confections were revealed. After a few moments to orientate the box lid to know which chocolate was which (coffee creams and mochas for Anna, caramels and mints for Elsa, rock/paper/scissors for the solid chocolate pieces), the two lazed away the day together while watching daytime talk shows and favorite childhood movies; Anna belted loudly and off key to her favorite songs in said childhood movies.

* * *

Wednesday morning arrived quiet and unassuming, the sun making a welcome appearance after two days of drizzle and depressing skies. Elsa stretched out in her bed, leaning over to check the time and chuckling as she heard the doorbell chime happily again. Apparently Anna was right, he was determined, though she was certainly surprised at just how determined he was turning out to be.

Her stomach ached as she forced herself upright, grimacing slightly; too many chocolates she supposed. She considered for a moment, hearing the very faint strains of a conversation from downstairs and guessed that Anna was flirting away again with the delivery boy. She smiled; let Anna have the romance, she was just fine keeping to herself.

She forced herself to get dressed this morning, deciding that maybe would be nice to get out of the house for awhile. Perhaps she'd see if Anna wanted to go down to the cafe for a late breakfast, they could both stand to get out of the house for once this week.

She frowned as she headed down the stairs several minutes later, hearing the conversation still muffled from down stairs; was Anna still talking to the delivery boy? She had her answer when she rounded the corner, her amused smirk and good humor fading quickly as she saw what awaited her in the living area.

"You," she said, trying not to wince at the note of surprise that sounded in her voice. "What are you doing here?"

Jack gave her a cautious smile before holding up a large stuffed snow leopard before his face, using his hand to wave a stuffed paw at her.

"I heard the bear was a bad idea, so I went bigger. And different. And cat. Who doesn't love cats?"

Her lips fought a smile, her eyes glancing around to try and find Anna, who had very quickly disappeared from sight.

"I'm sorry," he said, lowering the cat and setting it on the back of the couch. "I really am. That... it wasn't my intention to lie to you, honestly. It just kinda, happened."

She crossed her arms, looking at him with a mix of curiosity and derision. He took that as a sign to continue.

"I just," he sighed. "You were nice! You're pretty, beautiful! And you helped me in the store, and the shopkeeper when he was obviously having an issue. You, you had- you had a lot of passion in what you were talking about. It made me wish I read more. I went into the store to sit down for a bit, my knee was bothering me."

Her gave her a smile. She quirked her eyebrow at his last statement.

"I-I mean, I did go in for the magazines. And, a book." he amended quickly. "I do read. I like to read, I just don't have a lot of time to. So, that's why I sat down. And then we started talking, well I started talking."

She shifted her stance.

"Sorry," he said smiling again. "I guess you were there. But, I just. I wanted to see you again! But, I don't know, the idea of saying "Hey, I'm a professional skier training here for a couple months, want to go out?" seemed like the worst pickup line ever. So, I just thought I'd ask you to go skiing. And, then, well, it kinda just devolved into what happened. I'm sorry about that, I really am. I should have said something."

She sighed. "Why the faking, on the bunny slope? I mean, if you knew how to ski, why didn't you SAY you knew how to ski? Then we could have just gone on the nicer slopes together?"

He reached a hand up behind his neck, scratching at the base of his skull. "Because, I didn't think of that until later. And, Anna in the car, well, I kinda wanted to amuse her."

"Hey! Don't you bring me into this mister," Anna's voice came from the kitchen, causing both of them to glance over. "I've helped you the last couple weeks, don't you go all Brutus on my ass now."

Jack grimaced. "Sorry. Didn't mean it like that. I just, again, I wasn't thinking."

Elsa sighed, looking down at the ground.

"Give me another chance? Just like, the two of us? Go and grab a bite to eat, maybe some coffee?"

She glanced back up at him. He was holding the leopard again, just below his chin.

"Do it," Anna hissed, still unseen from her spot in the kitchen.

Elsa turned an unamused glance towards the kitchen for a moment before looking back at Jack.

"Fine. An early lunch would be fine, there's a place a couple blocks from here that we can go to."

Jack smiled, holding out the stuffed cat for her. "I knew I liked cats," he said, winking at her.

She rolled her eyes, turning away from him. "Let me get my things, and I'll be ready."

She didn't miss the small victory dance out of the corner of her eye as she turned to go back up to her room for her purse and mobile phone. Certainly determined, she had to give him that much.


	5. Chapter 5

_Updates might be a little sporadic, life has gotten a little hectic with various and sundry things and I'm squeezing in my writing time whenever I have time available. I'm so glad to hear that so many of you are liking the story and the idea that I have with it, so please bear with me as I fit in the story updates as often as I am able._

_Please let me know what you think! Love! Aria_

* * *

They walked slowly next to each other outside, Elsa leading the way to the cafe she'd suggested, neither one speaking as their footsteps filled the silence. She'd procrastinated in her room as long as she could, changing her outfit and then gathering her things until Anna had come up to check on her. Anna had practically shoved her elder sibling out of the room and out of the house.

And now, they walked along the path together, while each waited for the other to speak, to begin conversation from the awkward silence they were in.

"So," Jack drawled out, moving his hands forward in his jacket pockets. "I heard you two liked the chocolates."

Elsa grinned, looking down at the path as they walked along.

"Anna told you about that then?" she said, glancing up at him.

"Oh yeah," he said, giving her a wide grin. "Yeah, she told me about your, oh how did she describe it, "epic movie day", sounded like a good time."

Elsa laughed softly. "Yeah. Yeah, that was fun."

The difficult silence fell back between them, a car honking in the distance causing them both to look up at it.

"Anna seems like she is a lot of fun to be around," he continued. "I like talking to her."

"Anna is quite the character," she agreed, pointing right for them to turn down a sidewalk and continue their walk. "Gets her into trouble a lot of the time."

He chuckled. "She told me. A menace in primary school she said."

Elsa nodded, adding softly. "At home too."

"She told me about her, her thing too. The epilepsy."

Elsa shook her head, grinning a little. "I don't know how she does it, she's so nonchalant with it. Almost like it's a badge of honor, a mark of how unique she is while I'm forever trying to protect her from the world."

He didn't say anything, just watched her as she looked at the path ahead.

"I mean, I suppose it's not that severe. She controls it with medications, they've gotten better over the years, and we're careful about what we watch on television. Eurovision is getting worse, which upsets her," she continued, laughing softly at the end as she remembered her sister's pouting as the couch pillow would be pulled up over her eyes at the glimpse of a strobe light warning on the screen.

After a long moment of silence while they walked together, Elsa lost in a moment of remembrance, Jack broke the thought.

"She, she said that it had something to do with what happened last weekend, but wouldn't tell me what. She said, said I should hear it from you," he said, looking curiously at her.

"She would do that," Elsa replied softly, looking back down at the ground.

She stayed silent for another long moment after that, looking up at the path ahead of them and causing Jack to wonder if she would refuse to speak any more on the matter. Finally, she sighed, glancing over warily at him and kicked at a landscaping stone that had made it's way onto the footpath.

"Anna and I were always outside playing when we were kids. Didn't matter what season or the weather, we loved to be outside and doing things. We'd make our own worlds, imaginations being what they were," she said. "This was partly because Anna was gone a lot of the time, always seeing doctors and going to hospitals while I stayed home with babysitters and relatives, being told to sit down, be quiet and just watch TV until they got back."

"She was trying to get treated?" he guessed.

She nodded. "Yeah. Treatment, diagnoses and whatnot. But, she didn't know what was going on, not really. She was only around five or six during this time. And they didn't tell me either, just that she had to go to the doctor, and they would be back."

She fell silent again, replaying the memories in her head.

"There used to be this tree in the backyard, a big old oak tree with massive branches that were great for climbing on. We used to climb all over it whenever we could. And one day that's what we were doing, I don't remember what it was we were acting out; could have been pirates, or Robin Hood for all I remember. What I know I'll never forget is," she paused, swallowing and taking a breath. "I'll never forget looking up a branch and seeing her start to shake with a seizure, then fall from that tree onto the ground."

"I screamed for my parents, jumping down to her and I just remember this sickening feeling of guilt and of terror from seeing her, unconscious, on the ground with blood on her head from where she'd fallen."

She shook her head, as if trying to shake the image out of her head.

"They yelled at me as they ran out to her, yelled at me for not keeping her safe. Said it was my responsibility to look after her."

He spoke up at that, sounding affronted and slightly offended for her. "But it was the seizure, that wasn't your fault."

She looked over at him then, giving him a small smile. "She'd never had one that big before then. But they took her to the hospital, left me at home again and didn't tell me until nearly a week after the incident that it wasn't my fault. So, I was nearly ten before I learned that she was epileptic."

He whistled.

"Why didn't they tell you?"

She shrugged. "I guess they were doing what they thought was best. But it made me want to make sure Anna was safe more, I'm always making sure she's taking her medicine on time and checking to make sure anything we do is safe, like movies or Eurovision and whatnot."

He nodded, their shoes scuffing along the sidewalk as they continued down the path. She gestured up ahead at the cafe, the sign swinging in the wind showing the name "Lysverket". He tried to pronounce it, failing as she smiled beside him.

"You say too many of the letters," she said. "Lies-Fer-Ga."

He tilted his head, studying the sign. "If you say so."

She laughed. "I think I know how to speak Norsk, as I AM Norwegian."

He grinned at her, stepping forward to hold the door open, bowing slightly as she stepped inside. They were greeted by the uniformed waitress, shown to a small table next to a window that overlooked the harbor.

"Didn't realize we were so close to the water," he commented, looking out the window as he held the menu in both hands.

She gave him a curious look. "You're in Norway, you are always close either mountains or the North Sea."

Silence fell again as they looked over the menus, a waitress coming to collect drink orders before leaving them alone again.

"Now," he started, looking a little nervous. "I understand that whole bit with Anna and your parents not telling you about the epilepsy, I mean that would be really traumatic, but surely that wouldn't put you off not trusting people forever?"

She nodded. "You're right," she admitted. "It wasn't just that."

She paused, leaning back as the waitress returned with their drink orders and a basket of bread.

"After the tree-falling incident, I wanted to spend even more time with Anna," she said, picking up a slice of warm brown bread and carefully buttering it. "I'd do what I needed to do at school and then immediately come home to be with her. So, my parents, particularly my father, started arranging like playdates for me with the children of some of the people that worked for him."

Jack nodded.

"Bergen is a large city, but not so large in other respects," she continued. "So, I made some friends this way. Some girls that I thought were really good friends of mine. I mean we'd have sleepovers, and pass notes in class and everything."

She sighed. "Until I overheard them talking about how they were going to have to put up with me again that weekend because their parents were hoping to get a promotion from my father."

Jack frowned. "What?"

She nodded, finishing off her slice of bread. "Turned out that they didn't like me at all, thought I was weird. But their parents made them stay friends with me because they thought being friends with the boss' daughter would help their chances at work. They lied to me, they had been lying to me. And when I asked them about it, it all came out."

She gave a bitter smile. "And I went from thinking I had these wonderful, caring friends to having no friends at all. So, I swore after that, that I wouldn't trust anyone that lied to me, or have anything to do with them."

He leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms. "Until me."

She quirked an eyebrow at him. "You're still on thin ice," she said. "You've just gotten a second chance from your sheer, sheer annoyance."

"I like to think of it as persistence."

She scoffed. "It's something alright."

He grinned at her.

"Well, I will make you a promise, right here, right now."

Her brow quirked against at him in curiosity.

"A promise?"

"Yes, a promise. A promise, an oath, a vow, whatever you want to call. Ye olde pact," he said, that wry smile and mischievous look in his eyes as he listed off the options.

"Yeah, that part I got," she said, looking amused.

"Alright, I promise right here, right now at this fancy little table, no more lies, ever," he said, putting a hand over his heart.

She studied him for a long moment. "You have got to be the most stubborn man I've ever met."

"I'll take a little pride in that," he said, hand still on his chest. "I'm serious though! No more lies, ever."

She looked at him for a long moment, studying him before she nodded.

"Alright," she said. "But you break your promise, and not all the stuffed animals and giant boxes of chocolates in the world can save you."

He grinned at that, leaning forward and looking at his menu again.

"Fair enough," he allowed. "So, what's good here? I can't even say anything that I'd like to eat."

She laughed, leaning forward to point at a few items and explain what they were to him as he listened along, grinning.

* * *

After their meal was over, they'd walked back the same few blocks back to her house with much more laughter and much less tension this time. They'd spent the meal talking about his career thus far, including a moment where he'd sheepishly brought out one of the magazines he'd bought when they'd first met each other; he'd been featured on one of the pages. She'd told him about her time at University thus far and laughed when he'd reacted to her telling of her studying Mathematics.

"What on earth are you going to do with that?" he'd asked her.

She'd shrugged. "I'm barely out of my first year, I haven't decided yet. Maybe teach, maybe try to get something with the government, I'm not sure yet."

He'd shaken his head.

"Oh, don't give me that," she'd said, smiling at him. "You use math all the time with your tricks and flips. And Physics. Knowing how much force to apply to a jump, what angles to hit."

"NOW you're starting to sound like Edmund, stop that," he'd told her, pointing his finger at her.

They had then started talking about his two teammates, Nida and Edmund, and their coach, Nick. All three did something different in the winter sports scene, something rare and usual for their coach to handle but Jack seemed to shrug it off.

"We get along great," he said, popping a bit of vegetable into his mouth. "Most of the time."

He was still talking about some of their antics as they were walking back to her house.

"You should, you should come out to the slopes again," he told her, looking at her sideways as they walked and smiling. "I have a lot of fun on the snow."

She smiled, opening to mouth to answer when she heard the humming vibrations of a mobile phone going off and paused. She stopped mid stride, reaching down to pat at her pockets and pulling out the device to check the screen, frowning as she saw that she had no missed calls or messages.

"Is that your phone?" she asked, looking up at him.

"Yep," he said, not moving to reach for it.

She stared at him for a long moment, confused.

"Aren't you going to answer it?"

"Wasn't planning on it."

Her confusion deepened.

He sighed. "I kinda skipped practice today. So, I'd bet dollars to doughnuts that's Nick blowing up my phone waiting to yell at me, and I'd just as soon wait for him to roll out the punishment."

She continued to stare at him.

"Dollars to doughnuts?" she asked.

He grinned at her. "American expression."

"And, you skipped practice because you wanted to come see me?"

"Yep."

"And, try to make further amends."

"Right again," he said, still grinning at her. "I'll be fine, he won't stay mad for long."

"He might if you don't answer his call."

He paused at that, considering. "Well-"

She smirked at that, both of them looking down at his pocket as the mobile phone started to vibrate again with an incoming call. He sighed, pulling it out and tapped the button to answer the call.

"Hey," he said, closing his eyes and leaning his head back.

He immediately pulled the phone several inches away from his ear, tilting his head in the opposite direction as an angry man shouted from the other end of the phone. Elsa looked down at the ground, fighting back a smile as Jack tried desperately to get more than a half syllable word into the conversation.

"Yeah, I got it Nick," Jack finished finally, tapping the end call button and sliding the phone back into his pocket before looking back over at her. "Well, I think that went well."

She grinned at him as they continued to walk, turning the corner of the building.

"I heard," she said.

"I think half of Bergen heard," he muttered sullenly.

She chuckled.

"Soo," he drawled out. "I'm not going to be able to leave the center any time soon."

She shook her head. "I got that impression."

He chuckled. "Would you maybe come up there one day this weekend for the day?"

"Which one?"

"Hemsedel."

She looked up at him, giving him a pointed look.

"What?"

"You knew how to get there that day, you didn't need the silly GPS."

"Yes I did! I don't know the road names around here! I don't know much of anything around here direction wise," he protested, gesturing defensively with his hands. "You are giving me FAR too much credit."

She laughed, covering her mouth with her hand. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry. That was mean."

He scowled. "I have trouble getting around at home, where I grew up, let alone here."

She grinned up at him.

"Well, if we go some place together, I'll do the directions and you can do the driving."

"I'll hold you to that," he said, giving her a grin.

"But, yes, we could probably come up there one day this weekend. A do over from last weekend, if you will."

He nodded, stopping on the path as they reached the front of her house and held out his hand for her.

"It's a date then."

She rolled her eyes, holding her hand out to shake his. He took it, turning it slightly in his hand and brought it to the back of his lips for a kiss, giving her a quick wink as she stared at him.

"Until then," he said, releasing it and turning to unlock the SUV that was sitting behind him on the curb.

She stared at him, watching as he sat in the car for several moments before turning around to fish out her keys from her purse, unlock the front door to the house and step inside. She closed the door, hearing him pull away as the door clicked closed behind her, and leaned against it, letting out a sigh. A strange smile spread across her lips.

Anna bounded into the room, excited and eager to hear about what happened.

"So?" she asked. "How did it go? Tell me! Details, I need details!"

Elsa laughed, leaning off the door and letting Anna drag her into the living room and to the couch where they could sit together.

"Good," she said, unable to stop smiling. "It went good."


End file.
